An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/lauschen

by Friedrich Kluge

lauschen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German (rare) and Middle Low German lûschen, weak verb, ‘to listen, lurk’; the meaning points to the oft-recurring Old Teutonic stem hlū̆s, ‘to hear,’ so that *hlûskan for *hlûs-skai-, with a derivative sk-, may be assumed. Compare Old High German hlosên, Middle High German losen, ‘to listen to, hearken,’ Old Icelandic hlus-t, ‘ear.’ English has preserved the cognates in Anglo-Saxon hlyst, feminine, ‘hearing,’ hlystan, ‘to listen or hearken to,’ English to list, listen; Old High German lûs-trên, Middle High German lū̆stren, Suabian and Bavarian laustern, ‘to hearken,’ Middle High German lusemen, lüsenen, ‘to hearken.’ The Old Teutonic verbal stem hlus, authenticated by this group, from pre-Teutonic klus, has cognate terms in Indian and Slavonic; Indian crušṭís, feminine, ‘hearing, obedience’; Old Slovenian slyšati, ‘to hear,’ sluchŭ, masculine, ‘hearing,’ Lithuanian klausà, feminine, ‘obedience,’ paklùsti, ‘to obey,’ klausýti, ‘to hear.’ To this root klus, ‘to hear,’ a shortened form klu is allied; compare laut and Leumund. Modern High German lauschen also seems to be connected in a subsidiary manner with Middle High German lôschen, Old High German lôscên, ‘to be hidden, concealed.’ Compare Middle Dutch luuschen, ‘to be concealed,’ allied to the equivalent Old High German lûȥȥên (Bavarian laußen, ‘to lie in ambush,’ still exists).